Gave Kakkad sleeping pills before slitting throat, Palande tells cops

Police officers interrogating double murder accused Vijay Palande have a chilling tale to tell of how he coolly told them he had offered Karan Kumar Kakkad the choice of a painless death.

A crime branch official told HT: "Palande revealed that he and his accomplices told Kakkad just before killing him that they were about to slit his throat and cut his body into pieces. They asked Kakkad if he would like to take sleeping pills before being killed, or whether he would like to remain conscious."

The officer, who did not wish to be named as he is not authorised to speak to the media, said Kakkad, who was killed in his flat at Oberoi Springs building in Andheri Lokhandwala, chose the first option. "He was initially given four sleeping pills. However, the pills did not take any effect, so they pushed 10 more into his mouth. When Kakkad finally lost consciousness, they dragged him into the bathroom and slit his throat. After this they kept the body under the shower till the blood got washed away, and then cut it into pieces," the officer said.

Palande and his associates then rummaged through the house for money and other valuables, the official said.

They also looked for bags to dispose of Kakkad's body. However, they found only Rs50,000 and some jewellery.

They then went to a shopping mall and bought huge garbage bags and pieces of luggage to stuff Kakkad's body in.

After disposing of Kakkad's body in Kumbharli ghat near Chiplun, they took the bags to Anuj Tikku's house as they had planned to kill Tikku and dispose of his body in a similar manner, he said.

According to the officer, Palande told the police that he had befriended Kakkad and hatched a conspiracy to kill him in order to grab his property.

He reportedly said he realised Kakkad was rich after he learnt the latter had lost Rs2 crore betting on cricket.

According to the police, Kakkad had gone missing on March 5.

A missing complaint was registered only on March 9. Kakkad's murder came to light later, during the investigation into senior citizen Arun Tikku's murder.

Palande later led the police to Kumbharli ghat near Chiplun where he had dumped Kakkad's body.